Vertical mechanical filing cabinet



Sept. 29, 1970 R. c. RAABE ET AL VERTICAL MECHANICAL FILING CABINET 3 SheetsSheet 1 Filed July 5, 1968 mm & w A

if I fazfioi aae Sept. 29, 1970 c, RAABE ETAL VERTICAL MECHANICAL FILING CABIN 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 5, 1968 Sept. 29, 1970 R. c, RAABE ETAL' 3,531,171

VERTICAL MECHANICAL FILING CABINET Filed July 5, 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 United States Patent O 3,531,171 VERTICAL MECHANICAL FILING CABINET Ralph C. Raabe, Letts, and Clifiord M. Brown, Muscatine, Iowa, assignors to Hon Industries Inc., Muscatine, Iowa, a corporation of Iowa Filed July 5, 1968, Ser. No. 742,807 Int. Cl. A47b 49/00 US. Cl. 312-268 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A vertical power-operated filing cabinet having regular Octal sprocket wheels and carrier support chains consisting of rigid links, each link being of an effective length corresponding to the chordal dimension of the sprocket wheels and including an offset support extending outwardly from its pivotal connection with an adjacent link, and a series of carriers pivotally suspended on the offset supports of alternate links by end pivot pins engaging the oifset supports directly outward of such link connections, the remaining links having rollers engaging alignment detents on the superjacent carriers during traversing of the vertical runs of the chains to stabilize the carriers during their vertical travel.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application pertains to vertical mechanical filing cabinets of the general type disclosed in the copending application of Robert D. Gutting, Ser. No. 604,467, filed Dec. 23, 1966, now Pat. No. 3,442,564.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This invention pertains to mechanical filing cabinets, and more particularly to such filing cabinets of the type having a sprocket, support chain and carrier arrangement designed to support two carriers above the axis of rotation of the upper sprockets and two carriers below the axis of rotation of the lower sprockets.

Description of the prior art The prior art includes a wide variety of support drive arrangements for mechanical or power-operated file cabinets. However, a continuing consideration in such filing structures is to obtain the most eificient use of the storage space. Within a given set of cabinet dimensions, and prescribed dimensions of depth and clearance between carriers, this efficiency may be considered primarily in terms of the length of shelf space, or the number of carriers which can be provided.

The aforementioned application of Gutting discloses a vertical power-operated file apparatus wherein the number of carriers or shelves within a given space is increased by providing a sprocket and support chain arrangement for supporting two extra carriers in a given space, as compared to prior art constructions. Gutting describes an embodiment including square sprocket wheels, with carrier chains formed of rigid chain links, each of an effective length corresponding to the effective length of the side of a sprocket wheel. Thus, the sprocket wheels and chains are of a configuration to support two carriers above the axis of rotation of the upper sprocket Wheels and two carriers below the axis rotation of the lower sprocket wheels at all times. However with square sprocket wheels, certain problems have been presented due to the lateral or horizontal pulsing movement of the vertical runs of the supporting chains and the attached carriers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of this invention to provide further improvement in file systems of the general type to which said Gutting application pertains. It is a further more specific object of this invention to provide an improved file apparatus retaining the space efliciency advantages of the arrangement described by Gutting in the aforementioned application, and wherein there is little or no horizontal movement of the carriers during their movement along the vertical runs of the support chains. Further objects of this invention are to provide such file apparatus which is of simple and economical construction and which has dependability of operation as well as adaptability for use in various filing, storage and retrieval operations.

In general, the foregoing objects are achieved in one illustrative embodiment of the invention by providing mechanical file apparataus comprising two pairs of sprocket wheels mounted for rotation about two vertically spaced horizontal axes with the upper pair of wheels aligned with the lower pair, each of said sprocket wheels having eight chain-engaging portions arranged in a regular octal configuration at a predetermined chordal spacing, a pair of support chains each extending about and engaging corresponding aligned sprocket wheels of said pairs of sprocket wheels and each being formed of a series of rigid links pivotally joined to one another, each of said rigid links being of an effective length corresponding to said predetermined chordal spacing, and a plurality of carriers each pivotally suspended on said pair of chains with successive carriers being pivotally supported on alternate links of said chains.

For a more complete understanding of the invention, reference should now be had to the drawings wherein an embodiment is illustrated, as described below, by way of example of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OFTHE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a power driven vertical file employing teachings of this invention, with a portion of the cabinet covering broken away;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged front elevation view of an end support and guide structure of the file of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 33 of FIG. 1 and looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 4 is a partially schematic elevation view of the sprocket wheels, support chain, file carriers and drive mechanism of the file of FIG. 1, taken generally along the plane of line 4-4 of FIG. 1 and looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged partial view of one sprocket root of the sprockets of the file of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged elevation view of a portion of the carrier chain, and

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken on the irregular line 77 of FIG. 6 and looking in the direction indicated by the arrows.

DESCRIPTION FIG. 1 illustrates generally a vertical power operated file 8 of the type wherein a plurality of shelves or carriers 10 are supported on a pair of conveyor chains, with one chain being trained around a vertically aligned pair of sprockets at each end of the file. The file includes a cabinet having a front wall 12, a rear wall 14, side walls 16, a base 18 and a top 20 (see also FIG. 4). The front wall is formed with a rectangular access opening 22 which may be closed by a suitable retractable closure or door (not shown). A counter 26 is provided, normally at desk height, in order to provide a convenient working space for file clerks or others using the file 8.

An extension of the cabinet housing is provided beneath one end of the counter, being enclosed by a front Wall 28 and side walls 30. Referring also to FIG. 4, a suitable drive motor 32, such as a reversible electric motor, and a speed reduction mechanism 34 is provided within the housing extension. A roller chain 35 engages an output sprocket wheel 36 and a sprocket wheel 37 keyed to a drive shaft 38. Selector controls 40 are mounted in counter 26, or may be conveniently mounted in an available portion of wall 12, as at 41, for controlling the operation of the motor 32 to bring any selected carrier to the work position at opening 22.

Referring to FIGS. l4, the support frame of the file 8 includes a pair of upright end supports, as at 42, with one of these supports at each side of the cabinet. Only the left end support 42 is shown for illustration, the support at the opposite side being a mirror image version of the illustrated support 42, except as noted below. The drive shaft 38 extends horizontally across the lower portion of the cabinet, being journaled at its opposite ends in suitable bearings provided at 44 in the end supports.

A pair of sprocket wheels 46 are aflixed to shaft 38, with one such sprocket wheel being adjacent each of the upright supports. A pair of stub shafts are provided, as at 48. Each such stub shaft has one end mounted in a bearing, as at 50, in the respective end support and extends inwardly therefrom, along a common horizontal axis parallel to and vertically aligned with shaft 38, a sufiicient distance to rotatably support an upper sprocket wheel 52 disposed adjacent the respective end support. The two upper wheels thus are journaled on separate stub shafts for rotation about a common axis parallel to the axis of the lower sprocket wheels. The sprocket wheels 46 and 52 adjacent each end support are vertically aligned with one another.

It will be noted that each of the sprocket wheels 46 and 52 is formed with eight notches, or sprocket roots 56 regularly spaced about its periphery for engagement with appropriate transverse drive elements of the carrier support chains.

A pair of carrier support chains are provided, being indicated generally at 58 (FIG. 1) and 60 (FIG. 4), with each chain trained about and engaging the aligned sprocket wheels adjacent one of the upright end supports. Referring to FIGS. 4, 6 and 7 wherein chain 60 is illustrated in greater detail, each of the carrier support chains constitutes a series of rigid links 64 and 66 each of an effective length corresponding to the spacing of notches 56. The carriers are pivotally suspended on the links 64 which constitute alternate links in the chains, whereby a carrier is supported at each unit of chain length corresponding to two such links,

Referring particularly to FIGS. 6 and 7, each link 64 is formed of spaced link elements 68 and 70, whereas each link 66 is formed of spaced elements 72 and 74. The adjacent overlapping ends of adjacent links are joined to one another in series by pins 76 and sleeve bushings 78 to form the sprocket chains. The spacing between the center lines of adjacent pins 76 of each chain corresponds to the spacing between the center lines of the notches 56. A roller 80, which may be formed of any suitable material such as Celcon, is rotatably mounted on the bushing on each pin 76 to engage in the sprocket recesses 56 as the sprocket wheels are rotated (see FIG. 4). The outer link elements 68 and 72 are relatively narrow and are adapted to be received, along with rollers 80, in vertical guide channels 82 and 84 (see FIGS. 2 and 3) provided in the respective support 40 along the vertical runs of the chains. These tracks are fiared at the ends, as at 82a, 82b, 84a and 84b to facilitate smooth entry and egress of the chains and rollers.

Each of the link elements 70 is of a generally triangular configuration and extends outwardly from the line defined by the pins 76. It will be appreciated that the sprocket wheels may be rotated in either direction by motor 32 to drive the chains and carriers in either direc tion of orbit. However, for convenience, the edge of link elements 70 perpendicular to the chain will be referred to as the leading edge.

A sleeve 86 is welded to each link element 70, at an opening 87, in a position wherein its center line is spaced outwardly of a pin 76 along a line normal to the length of the respective link, i.e., on a line normal to a line passing through the center lines of the pins 76 which support the respective link and intersecting the pin 76 adjacent the leading edge, as illustrated. A bushing 88 in sleeve 86 receives a pivot pin 90 for pivotally supporting one end of a carrier shelf 10.

Each pin 90 is affixed to a carrier plate 92 which is secured to the adjacent end 132 of a carrier 10, as by rivets 94. A washer 96 and nut 98 retain an arm 116 (described below) on each pin 90 and also retain the pin 90 in the respective sleeve 86. A bearing washer 100 is interposed between arm 116 and link element 70. The opposite end of each carrier is similarly supported on chain 58. The pins 90 are located on the vertical center line of each end of each carrier, and are disposed above the center of gravity of the respective carrier whereby each carrier is suspended by a pair of axially aligned pivot pins 90 engaging the carrier chains at opposite sides of the cabinet 12.

An alignment tab 104 is affixed to the lower portion of each of plates 92, as by welding flange ears 105 thereof to the plate. These tabs 104 include a pair of inclined ramp sections 106, and a centering guide detent 108 on the vertical center line of the respective carrier.

Each link 66 includes a link element 74 of a configuration similar to that of the link element 70. A locking roller 110 is journaled on a pin 112 secured to the outwardly extending link 74 adjacent its leading edge and positioned to be in vertical alignment with and midway between the Sleeves 86 of adjacent links 64 in the vertical runs of the chains. Thus, the distance between the axis of each support pin 90 andeach adjacent alignment roller 110 is the same over the vertical runs of the chains. The tabs 104 also are uniformly spaced from the pins 90, whereby each respective detent 108 is engaged by the subjacent locking roller 110 during movement of the carriers along each of the vertical runs of the chains. The ramps or wings 106 on the aligner tabs 104 serve to guide the rollers 110 into the detents 108 in the turn-around areas.

A stabilizing arm 116 is affixed to each pin 90 and carries a guide roller 118. These rollers engage appropriate arcuate guide channels 120 and 122 in the respective end support 42 to avoid excessive shelf swing when traversing the top and bottom sprockets. The arms 116 on chain 58 extend downwardly and rearwardly, e.g. at an angle of 45 to the horizontal, as seen in FIG. 1. However, the arms 116 on chain 60 extend downwardly and forwardly at a similar angle as seen in FIG. 4. The arcuate channel guides of each end support are appropriately eccentric with reference to the axis of the respective sprocket wheels to accommodate the respective offset rollers 116 on arms 118. Extending arms 116 in different directions precludes both of the stabilizing rollers 118 of a carrier from being in a neutral position, i.e., with arm 116 perpendicular to the guide track, at the same time. This avoids the possibility of excess tilting or rocking motion of the carriers that otherwise may occur in such a position. Short arcuate channel portions 124 and 126 at either end of channel 122 accommodate the slight horizontal pulsing of the carriers at these points to facilitate and assure the aligning and seating of rollers 118 in the superjacent tabs 104 as the carriers move from the lower sprocket wheel into the vertical runs. The ends of the guide channels 120 and 122 are flared, similar to channels 82 and 84, to facilitate the capture therein of the guide rollers 118. Engagement of the link elements 68 and 72 and of the rollers 80 within the guide channels 82 and 84 provide lateral stabilization during the vertical runs.

Referring to FIG. 5, an insert 128 of a suitable plastic or rubber, is secured in a recess 130 in each tooth root of each sprocket and projects slightly above the adjacent surface to provide noise reduction in the operation of the sprocket wheels and chains.

Several important facets of the disclosed structure should be noted. Each of the sprocket wheels is provided with eight uniformly spaced notches or sprocket roots 56, thereby in effect forming a regular octal or effectively octagonal sprocket wheel. Since a carrier is mounted on each support link 64, and the support links comprise alternate links in the chains, it will be appreciated that at all times two carriers will be supported above the horizontal plane defined by the axis of the upper sprocket wheels. Similarly, two carriers will at all times be supported beneath a horizontal plane through the axis of rotation of the lower sprocket wheels. Thereby, the advantages of he previously noted Gutting file structure are maintained. Moreover, as compared to a square sprocket wheel drive, the horizontal pulsing movement is reduced by about 75%. For instance,, with square sprocket wheels having effective side lengths of 12" a horizontal pulsing movement of 2.485" is obtained, whereas regular octal sprocket wheels having effective side lengths of 6" provide pulsing movement of only 0.596". The later theoretical movement can be controlled readily or eliminated by use of the guides 82 and 84. Use of larger sprocket wheels with more chain units (one uni corresponding to the length of chain for each carrier) on the sprocket wheels increases the requisite cabinet depth when enough offset is provided to clear the carriers at the ends. 1

Further, providing rigid links with each carrier moun ing point offset directly outwardly from one pivot pin assures maximum turning radius and thus maximum separation of the carriers in each turn-around area with a given distance of such offset. This permits adequate clearance between carriers with a minimum distance of offset, thereby reducing the depth along the vertical runs for conservation of cabinet space (minimum cabinet depth). Minimizing the offset also tends to reduce the differential in carrier speed between the vertical runs and the turnaround areas and minimizes side force or torque on the chain links. To these ends, with each carrier 10 of an effective combined length of a pair of links 64 and 66, it has been found that a distance of offset equal to slightly greater than /3 the depth of the carriers provided adequate clearance.

To illustrate the foregoing in one specific example, a file was constructed assuming a carrier storage space height of about 10 /2". The height of the carrier end walls 132 was 9 /2" above the floor 134. Adding shelf floor structure adequate for rigidity (about 1") and allowing for spacing between carriers resulted in a unit length of chain (one pair of links 64 and 66) of about 11%". Thus, the chain links were each of 5% effective length, and the spacing of the notches of the octal sprocket wheels, between center lines, was also 5%". For standard letter files, carriers of 12" horizontal depth were supported with the center lines of pins 90 offset 4%" from the center line through pins 76 as illustrated in the drawings. This provided an offset equal to about 0.35 times the carrier depth. For legal size files, carriers of 15" depth were supported with pins 90 offset 5%" from the center line through pins 76, as by placing the sleeves 86 at the outer openings 134 in link elements 70 and mounting the pins 110 in openings 136 of link elements 7 4. This provided an offset equal to about 0.38 times the carrier depth. The pivot pins 90 were located on the vertical center lines of the carriers about /2, of the carrier height (6") above the bottoms of the carriers. This maintained the support pivots above the center of gravity of the carriers, whether empty or filled, to automatically maintain proper carrier orientation, while minimizing the turning moments and hence the tendency of the carriers to swing when accelerated or decelerated in the turn-around areas.

It will be obvious that various other modifications of the specific embodiments shown and described may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

It will thus be seen that an improved file system has been provided which meets the aforestated objects of this invention and which will provide various other efficiencies and advantages.

While particular embodiments of this invention have been shown, it will be understood, of course, that the invention is not limited thereto since modifications may be made by those skilled in the art, particularly in light of the foregoing teachings. Therefore, it is contemplated by the appended claims to cover any such modifications as incorporate those features which may be said to constitute the essential features of these improvements, within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

We claim:

1. Mechanical file apparatus comprising a first pair of sprocket wheels mounted for rotation about a second horizontal axis, a second pair of sprocket wheels mounted for rotation about a second horizontal axis vertically spaced from said first axis, said sprocket wheels of said second pair being disposed in alignment with said sprocket wheels of said first pair, each of said sprocket wheels having eight chain-engaging portions arranged in a regular octal configuration about its periphery at a predetermined chordal spacing, a pair of support chains each extending about and engaging corresponding aligned sprocket wheels of said pairs of sprocket wheels and each being formed of a series of rigid links pivotally joined to one another, each of said rigid links being of an effective length corresponding to said predetermined chordal spacing, each alternate link of each of said chains providing a carrier support disposed outwardly of the line defined by the pivotal connections of each such link to the adjacent links in the respective chain and disposed at the same end of each such link, and a plurality of carriers, each of said carriers pivotally engaging one of said carrier supports of each of said chains and thereby being pivotally suspended on said pair of chains, successive carriers being pivotally supported on successive alternate links and each of said carriers being of a vertical height only slightly less than the combined effective length of two of said links.

2. Mechanical file apparatus as in claim 1 wherein each of said carrier supports is disposed on a line normal to the length of the respective link and intersecting the pivotal connection at said end thereof.

3. Mechanical file apparatus as in claim 1 wherein each of said carrier supports is spaced outwardly of said line a distance equal to about A of the horizontal depth of the respective carrier.

4. Mechanical file apparatus as in claim 1 including guide elements secured to each of said carriers and disposed in spaced relation to the pivotal engagement of the respective carrier and carrier support, and guide means engaging said guide elements for stabilizing said carriers during their vertical travel between said pairs of sprocket wheels.

5. Mechanical file apparatus as in claim 4 including guide means engaging said guide elements for stabilizing said carriers during their travel around the periphery of each of said pairs of sprocket wheels.

6. Mechanical file apparatus as in claim 1 wherein each of said carriers is suspended on such links by pivot means disposed below the upper edge of the respective carrier.

7. Mechanical file apparatus as in claim 6 wherein said pivot means are disposed to provide a pivot support axis for each carrier spaced above the bottom of the respective carrier a distance equal to about /3 of the height of the carrier.

8. Mechanical file apparatus as in claim 2 wherein each of said carrier supports is spaced outwardly of said line References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 8/1968 Ale 312-268 X 8/1965 Graber et a1 312268 8 3,202,265 8/ 1965 Anders 312268 X 3,363,958 1/1968 Antram 312268 3,442,564 5/1969 Gutting 312-268 5 JAMES T. McCALL, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 221-76 if 3,9,? um'mu s'm'msss P/lllslNl omucgE CER'IIFI (JA'IE OF QiOi-KRECTION Patent No. 3a53 7 Dated September 9: 97

Invcntor(s) Ralph c. Resbe and Clifford M. BIOWII It is certified that error appears in the above idcntificd patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

- Column 1, line 3, "Hon Industries Ino.," should read HON" INDUSTRIES Inc.,-- Column 2, line 3, "improvement" -should read improvements 5 line 17,

sp ataus" should read apparatus Column 5, line 15 third occurrence) "he" should read the line &2, after "effective" and before "combined" insert height only slightly less than the effective Column 6, line 20, claim 1, "second". should read first l SIGNED AND QEALE A Edwin 151mm 4 WILLIAM glieusunm. J8- Amsfing Officer Oomissipner of PM 

